


Roam

by Humansunshine



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greece, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mercenary Alec Lightwood, Mercenary Magnus Bane, Slow Burn, mlm author
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-03 16:37:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16329689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humansunshine/pseuds/Humansunshine
Summary: In Greece, 431 BCE, two men made a choice that wound their fates together forever.The son of an Athenian magistrate, Magnus never expected to survive the war, and when the Spartan warrior Alexander offers him a way out, he can't resist. As they journey across a land wracked with war, injustice and corruption, the two men learn as much about themselves as they do about each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So if you follow me on twitter (@harryshumsbitch) you'll know that Assassin's Creed Odyssey has stolen all my attention since it came out a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't get this idea out of my head, so enjoy! Please review if you like it and would like to see more.
> 
> And yes, Magnus is still Indonesian in this even though this is Ancient Greece. Let's just imagine in this fanfic world that his grandparents somehow came over to Greece as diplomats and somehow Magnus' Dad found another Indonesian lady to marry DON'T QUESTION IT SHH MAGNUS IS STILL ASIAN
> 
> Trigger warnings:
> 
> Murder/war: Magnus kills someone like RIGHT THERE in the first line. This fic is probably going to have a lot of violence in it because uh Ancient Greece
> 
> Depiction of dead bodies: It's not graphic but it's there.

Magnus raised his head and yanked his spear from the chest of his last challenger, muscles tensed ready for the next fight, only to see the dirt road in front of him completely empty. He looked around, eyes wide, his sandals slipping a little in the dust. 

There was no-one. Only bodies.

Dozens of them, some in blue, some in red, all lying in strange positions, torn and broken. Magnus thought that he’d seen enough dead in this war to desensitize him by now, but every time, battle left him breathless with grief. The men he’d known from his own unit, and the Spartans, the ones he’d been told were enemies. They all looked the same when they were dead.

Magnus pulled off his helmet and dropped it to the ground, panting. 

It struck him that he had absolutely no idea where he was. They’d been riding to a fort from a temporary camp when the Spartans had ambushed them, but in the heat of battle Magnus had forgotten which way the fort was and which way led back to the forest. He looked up at the sun, but it was right above him, so that was no help, either. 

He couldn’t stay on the road; the Spartans could send reinforcements any second, and while Magnus had gotten pretty good with his spear, he definitely wouldn’t survive a fresh unit of Spartan warriors. The only option he could see was to get to higher ground and see if he could spot the fort. The horses were as dead as the soldiers, so they’d be no help, either. Magnus grabbed his helmet, tucked it under his arm and started the walk up the grassy hill. 

It didn’t take too long to reach the top, and as he looked down at the road he could clearly see which way the fort was. 

“Nice view, huh.” 

Magnus whirled around, spear raised, to see a man leaning against a nearby tree, a waterskin in his hand. The stranger was big; an inch taller than Magnus, maybe, and thick with muscle in the arms and legs. Magnus had gotten a lot bigger since joining the army, but he was still the same scrawny politician in his mind as he had been at home in Athens, and he was intimidated by the Spartan. His hand went to his own waterskin, dismayed to see that it had been torn in battle. It hit him how thirsty he was.

“Hand over your water or die, Spartan.” Magnus spat, eyeing the red cape slung over the stranger’s shoulder.

The Spartan’s eyebrow arched. “Look, our commanders are dead. There’s no point killing each other. Here.” He held out the water skin, and Magnus kept his eyes on the Spartan’s hands as he slowly reached out to snatch the water. 

He kept his spear pointed at the Spartan’s throat as he drank. 

“I saw you fighting, in the battle. You’re a fierce warrior… For an Athenian.” 

Magnus gave the water skin back. “You were stood up here watching like a coward? I thought Spartans were supposed to be men of honour.”

“I climbed up here once all your brothers and sisters in arms were dead. Like you, I don’t have the best sense of direction.” The Spartan admitted with a wry smile. 

“Why didn’t you fight me?”

“Well…” The Spartan sat down slowly in the shade of the tree, keeping his hands where Magnus could see them. “When I saw my commander die, I realised that this was going to be a morbid stalemate. And I realised that I had the perfect opportunity to disappear.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes, stepping into the shade next to the Spartan. It was too warm to stand out in the sun. “Why would you want to disappear?”

The Spartan, to Magnus’ shock, started taking off his armour, laying the hot metal on the grass next to him. “My family want me to get married if I come home from the war. I don’t want to cross the Styx and I certainly don’t want to marry, so... Disappear it is.”

“So why keep me alive?”

“What makes you think I could kill you?” The Spartan teased, tilting his head to the side a little. “You should have more confidence in your abilities.”

“I’m not a warrior,” Magnus admitted, finally lowering his spear. “I’m a magistrates’ son. You’re a Spartan. You’ve been training since you could walk.”

“Yet you laid waste to all those poor souls down there on the road.” The Spartan pointed out, and Magnus shrugged. “You’re magnificent.” 

Magnus swallowed hard. “You could have stabbed me in the back if you were afraid to face me.”

The Spartan sighed, tossing his last leg guard away. “I could have. But I didn’t want to. Do you want to kill me?” 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Magnus admitted.

The smile that grew on the Spartan’s face made Magnus’ decision for him. He mentally cursed all the Gods. “Well, let me know when you do. Because if you decide not to kill me, I have a proposition for you.” 

“What kind of proposition?”

“Are you going to kill me?” 

Magnus rolled his eyes. “If I was going to kill you I’d have done it by now, you incorrigible brute, so spit it out.”

“I have skills. Skills that people need, and will pay for. If I can travel across the Greek world, I can survive on bounties and all that stuff. But… I can’t travel to Athenian territories by myself.” He explained.

“So you want me to… Give you my Athenian seal?” Magnus asked slowly.

“I want you to come with me.” 

Magnus barked out a laugh, and got to his feet. “Go with you? Bounty hunting? Do you have heatstroke?!” 

“Listen… Athenian…”

“Magnus.” He corrected, despite himself.

The Spartan smiled. “Magnus. Aren’t you tired of killing strangers for no good reason? Wouldn’t you rather have adventures and freedom? Go wherever you wanted, do whatever you wanted?” 

Magnus licked his lips. He was tempted. There were mysteries that he so badly wanted to uncover, mysteries that he never could while in the army or at home. If he went with the Spartan, he might even be able to look for his mother. 

“If I went with you, I’d be giving up everything. My position in Athens, my family…” 

“And I understand if you don’t want to.” The Spartan insisted. “But that is my offer, for you to take or leave.” 

Magnus looked out at the fort, chewing the inside of his cheek. Who knew how long this war would last? Who knew if he’d survive the next skirmish? No-one at home expected him to survive the war, not really. His father had been shocked in his last letter to hear from him at all. 

“Alright.” Magnus said, looking back at the Spartan. “Alright, I’ll come with you.” 

The Spartan got to his feet, and held out his hand. “Excellent.”

“But I get to decide where we go.” Magnus insisted, and the Spartan nodded. “Right. Good. What’s your name, anyway?” 

“My name is Alexander. But my friends call me Alec.”

Magnus wrinkled his nose a little, tentatively taking the Spartan’s hand. “Alexander it is.” 

Alexander threw back his head and laughed, and Magnus thought maybe Spartans weren’t all ugly, savage brutes, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I'm updating this little guy on Tuesdays! 
> 
> Trigger warnings for violence (including impaling) and discussion of dead parents.

They managed to loot enough from the dead to set up a tiny campsite on the hill in the cover of the forest. Magnus knew, logically, that if it were Alexander’s intention to kill him, he would’ve done it by now, but even so, he insisted on taking the first watch. 

Alec didn’t argue. He evidently trusted Magnus a lot more than Magnus trusted him, because he fell asleep almost immediately. It was almost annoying, actually. Alexander was clearly an idiot.

He had to be, to trust Magnus after watching him slaughter half a dozen of his countrymen. Why did he trust Magnus? Why did he think it was a good idea to abandon his post in the Spartan army and just run off bounty hunting? And more importantly, why had Magnus gone along with the idea?!

He should cut Alexander’s throat and go back to the fort. That’s what he should do. He should forget this ridiculous, childish fantasy of running around Greece looking for his mother. She was probably dead, anyway. 

The thought still made his throat close, and he stared into the fire.

No matter what logic said, Magnus couldn’t believe that his mother was dead. He couldn’t. The Gods were cruel, but surely not that cruel. She was a force of good, a force of calm in the political upheaval of Athens. Why would she be chosen to die? 

Until he saw a body, he refused to believe it. 

The only trouble Magnus had all night was a wolf that stalked around the edges of their camp, but with an arrow to his behind Magnus sent him whimpering off into the darkness. As the hours rolled by, Magnus watched the fire, and Alec, and the woods around them. A few times, he glanced at his sword, toying with the idea of killing Alexander and going back to his old life, but his hand never moved to pick up the blade. He knew that his decision to go with Alec was final. There was no going back, now. His life in Athens was over. 

He thought he’d feel mournful, but he just felt numb. No-one would miss him. At least, no-one would miss him any more than they’d miss the dead lying down by the road. 

“You look good when you’re brooding.” Alec murmured, voice rough from sleep, and Magnus raised his eyes from the fire to see him slowly sitting up, smirking. 

“I liked you better when you were asleep. Less bullshit.” Magnus answered, which made Alexander laugh.

“Hey, why do you hate me so much? I know Spartans aren’t exactly loved in Athens, but I’ve been perfectly nice to you. Even invited you on my little adventure.” 

Magnus stoked the fire a bit harder than necessary. “You don’t have any honour and you’re stupid.”

“Mmmm, well… You’re half right.” Alexander sighed, stretching out on his bedroll. 

“Which half?” Magnus asked suspiciously. 

Alexander’s eyes glinted in the firelight. “Guess you’ll have to figure that out, won’t you?” 

“This is absolutely insane. This whole idea is insane. I should have killed you.” 

“But you didn’t. Look, Magnus, we’re not going to pass the fort until the day after tomorrow without horses. If you don’t want to come along, you can just scurry back to the fort and forget I ever existed. I’ll ride off into the sunset and you… I don’t know, die heroically in battle somewhere.” Alec leaned back on his hands. 

“I want to come with you.” Magnus insisted. “And I’m…” He shook his head, looking out at the forest. “I’m angry at myself that it was so easy for you to convince me.”

“I’m just as surprised as you are, I thought for sure you were going to stab me earlier by that tree.” 

Magnus smiled despite himself. “So did I.” 

Both their heads turned in the direction of a sudden snap of a twig, reaching slowly for their weapons. Alec’s eyes found the bandit first, and he aimed an arrow into the darkness. A moment after it loosed, a sharp cry rang out, and the hairs on the back of Magnus’ neck stood up. 

The next thing he knew, three bandits plunged out of the bushes from the North, West and East, and Magnus and Alec leapt to their feet, going back to back. Alec raised his bow and shot the one coming from the West between the eyes before he made it three steps towards them. Magnus parried the attack from the West and twisted his spear behind the leg of the bandit and up, sending him crashing to the ground. As Magnus shoved his spear through the leather helmet of the bandit, Alec shot the last bandit and primed another arrow, his hazel eyes scanning the forest. 

Magnus crouched to clean his spear, and as he did he noticed an archer peek from behind a tree, aiming right at the back of Alec’s head, and before Magnus could think about it, he hurled his spear and nailed the last bandit right in the chest. Alec let out a low whistle. 

“Very nice.” 

“You did well spotting them, their armour is dark.” Magnus admitted.

Alec shrugged. “My instructors used to call me the Eagle.”

Magnus snorted, retrieving his spear and cleaning it on the grass. “You made that up.” 

“I did not, they used to call me the Eagle!” 

“There’s no way anyone called you Eagle and now you just happen to want to be a mercenary.” Magnus scoffed. “I think someone was a little too fond of Homer as a boy.”

Alec smiled wryly. “What, you think I’m the stuff of legend?”

“I think you think you’re the stuff of legend.” 

“And what about you, hmm? Magistrate’s son, educated man, gets a spear in his hand and suddenly throws better than any Olympic athlete?” Alec teased, shouldering his bow and stepping closer.

Magnus shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t do anything by half. I took training seriously. I didn’t want to die in this war.” 

“Me neither. See, we have more in common than you think.” Alec looked around at the forest. “We should move on before those assholes send reinforcements. Are you tired?” 

Magnus couldn’t have slept if he wanted to, not with the way his blood was singing with adrenaline. “I’ll be okay to walk for an hour or so.” 

“The moonlight will be bright enough at the tree line to move without torches. It’ll be harder for anyone to spot us that way.” 

“Agreed.”

Alec nodded, shouldering his pack. Magnus held out his spear for Alec to hold as he quickly packed up his half of the supplies, and soon they were on their way through the forest. Once they were at the tree line, they found five horses, and Alec gave a low whistle.

“The Gods are smiling on us tonight.” He deposited his pack on the one nearest to him and mounted. The horse didn’t seem too bothered that a stranger was riding it, and Alec experimentally rode it in circles as Magnus selected his horse. The first one he tried mounting was evidently a little more loyal than Alec’s, because it grumbled and snapped at him when he tried to touch, but the second was happy enough to get scratched behind the ears, so Magnus climbed up on that one and rode around to stand next to Alec. 

“Which way? Attika or Phokis?” Magnus asked.

“Thought you were going to pick where we were going.” 

Magnus shrugged one shoulder. “Honestly I have no idea where I want to go. So Attika or Phokis?”

“Attika.” Alec answered without a moment’s hesitation, and Magnus raised his eyebrows. “It’s... more affluent.”

Magnus didn’t buy it for a second. “Do you already have a job?” 

“No, but I want to see someone who lives there.”

“Who?”

“I… Have experience with mercenaries. The ones I know operate in Attika. I figure they can point us to some people in need, get us started.” Alec explained.

Magnus nodded slowly. “Alright. As long as we don’t go near Athens itself, at least not for a couple of years.” 

“Deal. I can send word to meet us somewhere else. But… We have a long ride. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Magnus smiled, kicking his horse into motion. “Maybe I’ll have even warmed up to you a little by the time we get there.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We meet Luke and Maia in this chapter! I've been in a weird fog this week because I've started new medication so I'm not 100% sure this is as charismatic as my work usually is, but!!!
> 
> Note: the word 'misthios' is used in this chapter - it's basically the greek term for a mercenary. (I learned it from Assassin's Creed Odyssey which is what this AU is massively inspired by, so don't kill me if you're Greek and that's not 100% correct)
> 
> Trigger warnings:
> 
> Mention of murder: Luke mentions in passing that he killed Alec's father, though Alec appears not to hold it against him.
> 
> Mention of suicide: Magnus wonders out loud if Alec was suicidal when they met, to put so much trust in him. Alec assured him that that's not the case.

The two warriors got to know each other over the next couple of weeks, as they rode towards Athens. Superficial things, like what kinds of meat each preferred, hunting and fighting styles, what their school days were like, how they got through their time in the army. Magnus didn’t talk about his family, and neither did Alec. Alec mentioned in passing that he’d been betrothed to a girl, insisting in the same breath that he had no interest in women. 

“Is it common in Sparta, to prefer the company of men?” Magnus asked, quirking his eyebrow. “I thought you were all about honour and serving your family. Didn’t think you partied much.” 

“It’s not about partying,” Alec muttered.

Magnus shrugged. “No, I know, I just…”

“And not all Spartans are the same. How would you like it if I asked you why you aren’t swanning around naked?”

“Well, that wouldn’t be very practical, for starters.” Magnus huffed, stoking the fire a little harder than strictly necessary. 

“Exactly, see, you’re pissy now. Stop… Assuming things. I’m not a Spartan.” Alec grumbled, pulling his knees to his chest. 

Magnus pursed his lips. “I don’t suppose I’m an Athenian anymore either.”

They had their little spats, but it hadn’t gotten physical. Magnus had started to like Alec a little, though he’d never admit it out loud. Alec was very open, in some ways, but in others, Magnus felt like he didn’t know Alec at all. He tried to play his own cards as close to his chest, but he hated silence, and he just had to fill it when it fell by the campfire. So he told Alec little stories about his youth that probably meant that Alec had figured out his personality pretty extensively by now.

Magnus wondered if Alec would ever talk about his family. He understood wanting to avoid the subject; he felt a pang of guilt every time he thought about his father being left childless, but he knew that he’d made the right decision. He wouldn’t make a difference serving in the Athenian army. He’d be one body among thousands, piled up to reinforce the walls of Athens. As a mercenary, he could work for the common man. Settle disputes that affect people’s livelihoods, kill dangerous bandits, murderers, rapists. Rescue kidnapped children.

His life as a mercenary would make a difference. He’d make sure of it. 

Alec had sent word ahead to his contacts to meet them at the Sanctuary of Eleusis, a half day’s ride out of Athens. He hadn’t said much about them, just that there were two of them, called Luke and Maia. Magnus was nervous; he knew, logically, that his father never left the city, and his friends weren’t particularly pious and had no reason to come to the sanctuary, but if one person recognised him, he and Alec would both be executed for abandoning their army posts and consorting with the enemy.

He’d been running around temples like this since he could walk, so Magnus wasn’t phased by the huge marble sanctuary, but Alec sat on his horse looking up at it for a long, long moment. Magnus wondered, not for the first time, where Alec grew up, because he couldn’t have grown up in a city. He wondered if Alec was a farmer’s boy. Perhaps that was why he didn’t care for his countrymen’s warlike ways. 

“I never thought I’d see you at a temple,” a voice said from behind them, and Alec smirked. He jumped off his horse and hugged a woman with tightly curled hair and brown skin. Magnus dismounted and held onto his and Alec’s horses, hovering awkwardly as Alec and, presumably, Maia, made a fuss of each other. 

“Where’s Luke?” Alec asked, glancing around.

“He’s getting us something to eat. This must be your ticket to Athens.” Maia turned her attention to him, and Magnus was surprised to see that she was beautiful. He didn’t expect her to be beautiful. Mercenaries weren’t exactly known for their aesthetic. He couldn't see any scars on her at all, and he wondered if she was just that good at fighting.

“Magnus,” he introduced himself. “I’d say that Alec has told me a lot about you, but he’s said next to nothing about either you or your partner.” 

“Luke’s not my partner, he’s my father,” Maia explained, shaking Magnus’ hand. “And yep, that sounds about right. Alec isn’t known for his storytelling.” 

Alec snorted, scratching the back of his neck. “If I’d told Magnus how we met then I think he’d have run screaming for the hills.”

“I don’t know, he looks like he can handle a little dysfunction,” Maia teased, and Magnus folded his arms, a little embarrassed. 

“Dare I ask?”

“I killed his father,” a man said from behind Alec, and Alec stepped aside to reveal Luke. He was strapping, about the same height as Magnus. There was a skinned buck slung over his shoulder, and he took the weight with no sign of discomfort. He looked a little suspicious as he met Magnus’ eyes, but not murderous, which was a good sign. 

“You…” What he’d said sunk in, and Magnus stepped back. “You what?” 

“In a good way.” Alec assured him.

Magnus gaped at him. “There’s a good way to kill someone’s father?!” 

Alec shrugged, folding his arms. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“I only kill those who’ve caused great harm, let’s leave it at that, hmm?” Luke said pointedly, grasping Magnus’ shoulder. “I’m no danger to you.” 

“Right,” Magnus nodded, though he didn’t take his eyes off Alec. 

“Perhaps we should ride out to the campsite. You never know who’s listening around here, these days,” Maia suggested, which was met by agreement from all. Magnus most likely should have been apprehensive about riding even closer to Athens, but his mind was reeling, trying to piece together what had happened with Alec’s family. Had Alec hired Luke to kill his father to avoid marrying? That seemed excessive. 

“I can hear you thinking,” Alec murmured, riding close to him. “My past isn’t a pressing issue.”

“No,” Magnus agreed, “but I am curious about it.” 

Alec looked over at him. “Maybe someday I’ll tell you. But not today.” 

The way Alec said it, Magnus knew there was no room for debate, and he nodded. 

“For what it’s worth, you’ve done well to overcome whatever it is that happened.” Magnus offered, and Alec smiled, just a little.

“Thank you, Magnus.”

Luke and Maia’s campsite was a lot better than what Alec and Magnus had muddled along with on their journey to Attika. It had two tents, for starters, and Magnus hoped that he and Alec would be allowed to sleep in one. There was a dog lying down by the campfire, and it jumped up and bounded over to Luke as they approached, running between his horse’s legs.

“Down, boy.” Luke chuckled, dismounting and tying his horse to a nearby tree before giving the hound a scratch under the chin. He brought the buck off his horse’s back and handed it to Alec. “Magnus, could you get the fire going?”

Magnus rummaged around his saddlebag looking for a piece of flint, and Maia appeared next to him holding one out. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure,” Magnus shrugged, leading Maia over to the campfire in the middle of the camp. 

“How exactly did the two of you end up together?” She glanced up at Alec as he joined them, having driven a pike through the centre of the deer. 

Alec smirked at Magnus, setting the impaled deer on two sticks to hold it over the fire that Magnus was coaxing to life. “He really didn’t take much convincing.”

“He showed trust,” Magnus admitted, “trust that I rarely got even from the other men in my unit. He took off all his armour and spoke to me as if I didn’t have a spear pointed to his throat,” Magnus tilted his head. “Looking back I wonder if he was suicidal.”

“I knew you weren’t going to kill me,” Alec chuckled, “there were no suicidal thoughts from me.”

Magnus looked at Alec, assessing. “How did you know?”

Alec met his eyes from across the fire. “You looked tired of fighting.” 

Maia looked between the two of them with a quirked eyebrow. There was a reason on both sides why they didn’t kill each other, and exhaustion certainly wasn’t it. She wondered how long it would take them to figure out that they were soulmates. Zeus had quite clearly cut these two men from the same being. She could see it in the way they looked at each other.

“Have you found any jobs yet?” Luke asked, coming to sit down with them, his dog curling up between Maia and Luke and lifting his head for some attention from Maia.

“We helped out a few people with wild animals on the way down here,” Alec shrugged, “small one day jobs that gave us a little drachmae, but nothing major.” 

“A lot of people need the help of a misthios, it turns out.” Magnus agreed. It hadn’t been difficult to find people in distress; the country was in turmoil. 

Luke nodded, leaning back on his hands. “Well, there’s a fairly big job that we could use your help with.” 

“Sure, what is it?”

“As long as it’s not in Athens, we’ll help you out.” Magnus insisted.

Maia was the one who spoke up, since it was her job, technically. “There’s a group of bandits that have been terrorising the villages around here, taking their food supplies and drachmae. They tried reporting it to Athens but they can’t spare any troops. So the villagers have compiled a little reward for the mercenaries who get rid of these bandits.” 

“How many are there?” Alec asked, taking out his bow to restring. 

“Not sure. Too many for the two of us to take out by ourselves,” she shrugged. They’d picked off a few of them over the last week, but they seemed to just keep on coming. “Their camp is an hour’s ride away. There has to be at least nine of them. There were nine tents.” 

Between the four of them, that would be at less than three each. Easy, Magnus told himself.

“There could be up to eighteen; the tents were pretty big.” Luke pointed out. “We don’t know. What we need is an archer to take out the look-outs.”

“Alec is an amazing archer,” Magnus assured him before he could stop himself.

Alec puffed up a little, surprised and pleased at the compliment. 

“Alright, so if Alec kills the look-outs, the three of us can sneak through the camp slitting their throats as quietly as possible. If one of them wakes up, they’ll shout and we’ll be a world of trouble.” Maia sighed, warming her hands by the fire. 

Magnus nodded, “if there really are eighteen, that’s almost five each, that could be difficult.” 

“We could do it,” Luke shrugged, “but not without injuries.” 

“When do we leave?” Alec asked, checking the buck to see if it was cooked. 

Maia and Luke glanced at each other, and Luke nodded.

“Tomorrow night. No point rushing into it tonight.” He told them.

“That means you two get to have a good night’s sleep. You won’t mind sharing my tent, will you? It’s big enough for three.” Maia assured them, and Magnus and Alec looked at her with wide eyes.

“Before we got our second tent, Maia and I shared for years. There’s plenty of room, I promise you.” Luke added.

Alec tore some meat from the buck. “Of course. That’s absolutely fine.”

“We appreciate it,” Magnus agreed.

A few hours later, once Maia had gone to bed and Luke had taken his position keeping watch, Alec and Magnus felt distinctly uncomfortable at the prospect of finally being alone.

They’d been alone, technically speaking, for weeks now. But they hadn’t been alone and safe. They hadn’t been hidden from the sight of the world. They hadn’t been in a place with nothing to worry about except each other. Alec, usually teasing and prodding, had distinctly pink cheeks. 

“She didn’t mention that there was only one bedroll.” Magnus observed, and Alec nodded. “I’ll go and get mine from my horse-”

“No, wait.” Alec put out his hand to stop him. “It’s… Well, we’re quite far from the fire. It’s cold.”

Magnus quirked his eyebrow. “Are you asking me to cuddle?” 

“Would you slit my throat if I did?” 

“No.”

“Right.”

“But this isn’t-”

“No, of course not.” Alec said breathlessly. “It’s just for warmth.”

“Just for warmth.” Magnus echoed, nodding. “And… If it’s just for warmth… Well…”

Alec had a question in his eyes. 

“Body heat is more effective skin to skin, is all.” Magnus said lowly, unable to keep from smiling at the way Alec’s eyes lit up. 

“You’re absolutely right. We should take off our shirts.” Alec insisted.

Magnus slowly peeled his over his head, and when the off-white fabric came up over his eyes, Alec’s shirt had already disappeared. The two men stood looking at each other for a moment, greedy gazes running over scars and bruises. Alec licked his lips, and Magnus felt a hot thrill race up his spine.

Then the moment was gone, and Alec was lying down, tugging the animal skins up to his chin. Magnus followed without a word, slotting his body behind Alec’s when he turned over onto his side. Alec pulled Magnus’ arm around his waist, and let out a sigh. Magnus pressed his cold nose into the nape of Alec’s neck.

“Goodnight,” Magnus whispered.

“Goodnight.” Alec replied, relaxing in his hold.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you want more!


End file.
